Third Pidge In Four Days

It has been a busy week or two and today the trend continued. I was on my way to the station after work when I encountered a rather sad looking Pidge outside the post office in St James' Road. With some assistance from a passing student I managed to catch the Pidge and on closer inspection I found a hole in the crop which was festering and there appeared to be maggots inside. The Pidge was making odd noises when it breathed and was incredibly thin. I returned to the college to find a suitable box and headed to the station. Sarah has a full house at present and would not have been able to get the Pidge to the vet until Saturday. Forget Me Not are also packed out at the moment but both Liz and Sarah said the Pidge needed immediate help, so I headed for Pigeon Recovery in Sutton. They sent me a text message a while later and said that they had cleaned out the crop, removed the maggots and inserted some stitches. It's touch and go now, so fingers crossed for the Pidge. I have named him Hobbs because I carried him to PR in a Russell Hobbs kettle box. Keep him in your thoughts, he's very fragile.

A nasty looking wound, probably a crop rupture of an old injury.

The view from above once he was in the box.

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I'm not sure if Autumn is especially difficult for Pidges, although a lot of juveniles seem to have Mycoplasma (an eye infection) at the moment. Both Sarah and Lyn & Maggie at Pigeon Recovery think its a crop rupture of an old injury. What caused that injury is unknown, but given the size and shape, it might be from an air rifle wound. I suspect it has been festering for a while judging by the state of it. I doubt he would have lasted more than a day or two more, if that. He might not make it now, but he has a fighting chance.

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Yes, fingers crossed for Hobbs (could have called him Russell) & he is lucky that there are so many caring people around. It is amazing what injuries birds can come back from, they just need a little help sometimes.

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Sry Paul, very sad when you lose them but as you know, they were at least as comfortable as they could have been for their final hours. As you know we are one garden robin less today due to a sparrowhawk when I found all the feathers :(

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